OXFORDSHIRE hospitals are the worst in the country for patients sharing mixed sex wards.

From today, the Government said hospital trusts will be fined £250 for each patient who has to share a ward with a person of the opposite sex.

It comes as latest Department of Health figures reveal the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust, which runs the John Radcliffe, Churchill and Horton in Banbury, reported the most cases in the country.

In February, 859 patients shared a ward and if the hospital reports a similar number of breaches for April, the trust could be faced with a fine of almost £215,000.

Labour county councillor John Sanders said the problem was particularly distressing for older people.

He said: “For the older generation, perhaps people who are more set in their ways, having to share accommodation with the opposite sex is particularly unpleasant.

“This seems to be another case of us being given nice words and promises but no-one actually doing anything.”

Elaine Strachan-Hall, chief nurse at the ORH, said the privacy and dignity of its patients was something it took very seriously.

She said: “We have invested a considerable amount of money over the last few years in bringing our inpatient facilities up to a high standard of privacy and dignity.

“The way in which breaches of single sex accommodation are counted has changed recently, and day case areas which were previously excluded from having to meet these rigorous standards are now included.

“Unfortunately, the trust has several such areas which it has not as yet managed to bring up to the standards of privacy and dignity that it strives for elsewhere.

“The majority of the breaches, 732, are from these areas.”

All providers of NHS-funded care are expected to eliminate mixed-sex accommodation, except where it is in the overall best interest of the patient.

The only areas where mixed sex accommodation is regarded as acceptable are critical care beds and accident and emergency.

In January, there were 232 breaches reported across the trust’s three hospitals.

Ms Strachan-Hall said: “The trust is planning to make changes to these areas in order to provide single sex accommodation.

“However, this is not work that is easy to achieve in the very short term and we will continue to have problems in this area until we are able to carry out some significant capital work in our day care areas.”

Nationally, the number of those forced to share with the opposite sex has fallen.

In February this year, there were 7,583 breaches, down from 8,160 reported in January, and 11,802 in December.

Breaches of the rules will now be recorded on ward computers and sent through the NHS management system.

Excuses such as bed and staff shortages or delays in seeing patients will not be accepted.

Have you had to share a ward? Call our newsdesk on 01865 425426.